This story was excerpted from Ian Browne's Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
When it comes to his many charitable endeavors, Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock is the ultimate example of someone who throws himself in with passion and never seeks recognition for them.
So when it was announced on Tuesday that Whitlock is Boston’s nominee for the 2026 Roberto Clemente Award -- the highest recognition for philanthropy a baseball player can get -- it was an honor he took in with great appreciation.
And that’s because of who Clemente was and his ever-lasting legacy.
For that reason, Whitlock is thankful for former manager Alex Cora’s decision to take the Red Sox to the Roberto Clemente Museum on Aug. 18, 2022, prior to a game against the Pirates.
Often when players get nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, they are compelled to really dig into who the late Hall of Famer was and all that he represented.
Fortunately for Whitlock, thanks to that museum visit four years ago, he already feels well-versed in what made Clemente a legendary human.
“When we went to Pittsburgh, [Cora] got a group of us and we went to the Roberto Clemente Museum. It was super cool and they had a very in-depth tour guide and everything like that,” said Whitlock. “It was really neat learning all about him and his history, and then also the history of the award, because they do a really good job there, explaining all that.”
Clemente died in 1972 in a plane crash when he was, fittingly, embarking on a humanitarian effort of delivering relief supplies to Nicaragua, which had just been hit with a devastating hurricane.
“I got to know about everything he did off the field, and obviously the tragic accident of the airplane, and why he was on that airplane, so I was really grateful to get to know all that,” Whitlock said. “And then obviously having AC as a manager, who is of Puerto Rican descent, I got to know exactly how much Clemente meant to Puerto Ricans. It's been really neat to see the award winners throughout the years and everything, and now it's a real honor to be nominated for it.”
The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball player who best represents the game through character, community involvement, philanthropy and contributions on and off the field.
In Clemente, Whitlock feels like he has a kindred spirit.
“He really exemplified what it means to not put baseball [above all else]," Whitlock said. “And I think that that's something that I try to live by every day, is knowing that, ‘Hey, this is a job and this is a game. This isn't what life is all about.’ I think he exemplified that the most in just saying there are infinitely more important things than this game. He did that to the utmost level, so it's really neat that they honored him for that and they have a specific award meant to say, ‘There’s a lot more to this game.’”
Whitlock has displayed that mentality his entire career, which started in 2021, when he had a role model in Nathan Eovaldi, who showed the younger players what it meant to embrace community efforts.
Not that Whitlock needed much convincing. It is just in his personality.
Whitlock has a chance to be the third Red Sox player to win the Roberto Clemente Award, after Tim Wakefield (2010) and David Ortiz (2011) went back to back.
It is an honor that would be so fitting for Whitlock, who feels that giving back is every bit as important to him as getting those key outs in the eighth inning.
Being a baseball player serves as the ultimate platform for Whitlock’s message to carry weight.
The most visible of Whitlock’s charity work is in his role as Red Sox captain for the cancer-fighting Jimmy Fund.
But there is so much else he does that the public doesn’t see. Forget about his relief pitching statistics, which are impressive enough in their own right. This is the one that matters most to him: He annually ranks among the team’s leaders in community appearances.
It is common for Whitlock to put his sponsorship funding toward a teammate’s charitable program rather than building his own brand.
This season alone, Whitlock has supported the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber, Boston Children’s Hospital, the Red Sox Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital's Home Base Program, Pro Athletes Outreach, One Church Boston, Highlands Church, the CPP One Foundation and the Chantel Guardians Syndrome Foundation, and has provided direct financial assistance for a family's IVF treatments.
Perhaps most poignantly, Whitlock sponsored the wish of a young boy from Georgia who suffered a traumatic brain injury, allowing him and his family to experience Fenway Park for the first time earlier this season and fulfill his dream of throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.
Of that effort, a member of the Red Sox community relations staff wrote the following as part of his nomination: “It is emblematic of Garrett’s approach to philanthropy: personal, thoughtful, and centered on people rather than recognition.”